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Last night marked the return of the Dota 2 weekly patches, which were on hold for around a month to avoid complications during the International 3 tournament in early August. This week's update has introduced the usual number of gameplay fixes, UI improvements, and audio changes, including increasing the failure to ready up penalty from 45 seconds to two minutes, preventing the reincarnate sound effect firing too late if the player was out of hearing range, and reducing the CPU usage of using drag-select to select units (a highly important change I'm sure we can all agree). However, the most major change affects Captain's Mode (the standard game mode used by professional players in competitive matches) as Centaur Warrunner, Troll Warlord, Abaddon, and Elder Titan have all been added to the hero roster. While their inclusion was definitely overdue, the introduction of four game changing heroes to the mode at once is very likely to disrupt the professional meta-game in some shape or form, which should definitely be interesting to see.
Elsewhere in the update, a series of new victory and teleport animations have been included for Alchemist, Huskar, Keeper of the Light, Ogre Magi, Phantom Assassin and Sniper, which have helped to further improve the consistency of the game's visual style. Several model improvements have also been made including a new skin for the March of the Machines robots, an increased scale for Storm Spirit, and a full model overhaul for Dragon Knight's rare "Crest of the Wyrm Lords" International 2013 shield. What update would be complete without a whole host of new cosmetic item sets? Over 14 of them have been included for Bloodseeker, Nyx Assassin, Ogre Magi, Pudge, Queen of Pain, Rubick, Slark, and more, all of which are now available from the Dota 2 Store. These item sets have been introduced alongside the addition of the amazingly cute "Ocula the Observer", ward, a custom "Waldi the Faithful" sausage dog courier straight from the Steam Workshop, and a pair of new HUDs in the form of the Rubick-themed "Curiosity HUD", and the"Dragon Scale HUD".
To celebrate the conclusion of the International 3 tournament earlier this month, the in-game "Aegis of Champions" shield, which is displayed on the wall in the Radiant and Dire bases, has been updated to display Alliance and their players as the 2013 winners alongside iG and Na'Vi, who were previously celebrated as the 2012 and 2011 champions respectively. The four different prize bounties for the Interactive Compendium's Fantasy challenge have also been included into the game files but are not yet released. The prizes contained within have also yet to be revealed, but the community expects the contents to be introduced into the game in a week or two. For more information regarding this update, including the introduction of rune mini-map icons for spectators and the discovery of new code strings for the upcoming "Holdout" game mode, head on over to Cyborgmatt's patch analysis or the full changelog over on the Dota 2 wiki. glhf everybody!
Will team fighters like Centaur Warrunner (top left) and Elder Titan (bottom right) disrupt the current metagame? Will Troll Warlord (top right) become a favourite carry amongst professional players? What role will we see the versatile Abaddon (bottom left) appear in? Only time will tell!
Elsewhere in the update, a series of new victory and teleport animations have been included for Alchemist, Huskar, Keeper of the Light, Ogre Magi, Phantom Assassin and Sniper, which have helped to further improve the consistency of the game's visual style. Several model improvements have also been made including a new skin for the March of the Machines robots, an increased scale for Storm Spirit, and a full model overhaul for Dragon Knight's rare "Crest of the Wyrm Lords" International 2013 shield. What update would be complete without a whole host of new cosmetic item sets? Over 14 of them have been included for Bloodseeker, Nyx Assassin, Ogre Magi, Pudge, Queen of Pain, Rubick, Slark, and more, all of which are now available from the Dota 2 Store. These item sets have been introduced alongside the addition of the amazingly cute "Ocula the Observer", ward, a custom "Waldi the Faithful" sausage dog courier straight from the Steam Workshop, and a pair of new HUDs in the form of the Rubick-themed "Curiosity HUD", and the"Dragon Scale HUD".
Ocula the ward (left / middle) and Waldi the courier dog (right) stand ready to serve!
To celebrate the conclusion of the International 3 tournament earlier this month, the in-game "Aegis of Champions" shield, which is displayed on the wall in the Radiant and Dire bases, has been updated to display Alliance and their players as the 2013 winners alongside iG and Na'Vi, who were previously celebrated as the 2012 and 2011 champions respectively. The four different prize bounties for the Interactive Compendium's Fantasy challenge have also been included into the game files but are not yet released. The prizes contained within have also yet to be revealed, but the community expects the contents to be introduced into the game in a week or two. For more information regarding this update, including the introduction of rune mini-map icons for spectators and the discovery of new code strings for the upcoming "Holdout" game mode, head on over to Cyborgmatt's patch analysis or the full changelog over on the Dota 2 wiki. glhf everybody!
The four different bounties soon to be awarded to those who competed in the Fantasy team challenge. Better stages and rarer loot will be awarded to players depending how many points their team scored.
